If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez named a longtime ally with close ties to Cuba his heir apparent as the cancer-stricken leader prepares for a potential departure after almost 14 years in power.

Chavez, in a nationwide address yesterday, said he was throwing his “irrevocable, absolute” support behind Vice President Nicolas Maduro to lead his 21st century socialist revolution should he be unable to carry out his duties. Chavez made the comments as he prepared to fly to Cuba for surgery, his fourth in 18 months, to treat an undisclosed form of cancer that he said reappeared in exams after winning re-election Oct. 7.

Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, has been one of Chavez’s closest civilian allies since the then tank commander first attracted national attention by leading a failed 1992 coup. While the president’s endorsement carries weight with Chavez’s base among the poor, a succession battle involving the more business-friendly, military wing of his movement and against a revitalized opposition is only beginning as the strongman’s grip on power weakens.

“In the short-term, Maduro is empowered but we don’t know what will happen afterwards,” Luis Vicente Leon, president of Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis, said in a telephone interview. “It’s one thing for Chavez, alive and in power, to exorcize internal arguments, but we’ll have to see how the infighting can be covered up without him there.”
Read More>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-1...n-cuba-1-.html

The difference between pigs and people is that when they tell you you're cured it isn't a good thing.